[H2P] Beginner Priest Guide (Under Renovation) (11/12/14)

**Notice** This guide is currently under renovation in prep for WoD. PM Blackmorgrim if you find any broken or obsolete links! I will fix them ASAP. Thanks for you patience as we update and be sure to check the site frequently as we update for all the new content! ~Blackmorgrim

This Guide is mostly aimed at people who are new to Priesting and possibly to wow in general. If anyone has any ideas to make this a better guide please let me know :)

Character SheetYour character sheet is an interface that lets you see what you have equipped and to equip different things. It also lets you see what your stats on your character are. You can access your character sheet by pressing “c” or by clicking on the portrait on your micro menu.

StatsStats refer to the different attributes of your character which can be enhanced through collecting gear. You can see what your current stats are by clicking on the yellow arrow on your character sheet. If you mouse over each stat you will see one number in white and one number in green. The white number is how much of that stat your character has as base (without gear) and the green number is how much of that stat your character is getting from gear. If you only see a white number that means you do not have any gear with that stat equipped.

Passive/Active AbilitiesThere are two kinds of abilities Passive and Active. Active abilities are ones that you have to click (or keybind) to use. Passive abilities are the kind of abilities that are always in effect.

Item LevelItem level (ilvl) is in reference to the level of gear you are using. This number is viewed in the top section of your stats menu. Item level mostly becomes important when you want to start doing heroic dungeons because you cannot queue for them until you reach a high enough ilvl.

Micro MenuThe micro menu is a little menu that is by default to the bottom right of your screen. It has buttons for your character sheet, spellbook, talents (when you reach level 10), latency display, and other useful information. If you mouse over each button it will tell you what it does.

HotA HoT or Heal over Time is basically a spell or effect that heals a certain amount over a certain period of time. Some examples of HoTs are Renew and Gift of the Naaru.

DoTA DoT or Damage over Time is similar to a HoT except instead of healing it does damage over a certain period of time. Some examples of DoTs are Vampiric Touch and Mind Flay.

TickDuring a Hot or Dot a tick is every time healing or damage occurs.

DpsDamage done per second. This is commonly used to judge how well damage dealing classes are performing.

HpsHealing done per second. While this is sometimes used to compare how effective a healer is in a raid this is a bit misleading when comparing different classes because the different ways classes heal can inflate or deflate the numbers. Most often Hps is used among healers when discussing which heals are the most efficient.

Talent TreeTalent trees become available to at level 10. They are the primary way in which you can make your character more specialized. You access the Talent Trees by pressing “n” in the default settings or by clicking on the icon on your micro menu.

SpecSpec is shorthand for specialization and refers to what you want your priest to be focused in. Shadow is the DPS spec, Discipline is a healing spec that focuses on shields and preventing damage, and Holy is a spec that is a versatile healer. Each spec will have different spells that they can learn.

ProfessionProfessions are skills you can learn and are mostly focused on the trade aspect of the game. You can only know two professions at a time. With a profession you either gather things other people can use to make things or you can make things for other people to use. A more in depth explanation of each profession is included later in this guide.

Secondary ProfessionsUnlike the other professions you can learn all the secondary professions if you want to. The secondary professions are Fishing, Cooking, First Aid, and Archaeology.

PvEPlayer vs. Environment; examples of this are most quests, dungeons, raids, and any situation where you are fighting/interacting with something controlled by the game.

PvPPlayer vs. Player; examples are battlegrounds, duels, arenas, and any situation where you are fighting/interacting with other people playing the game.

DungeonsThroughout the game there are various areas you can enter with four other people to tackle monsters that you wouldn’t be able to defeat on your own. Dungeons can be a great way to level up as there are a lot of things to kill in them and the bosses give more experience than you would get killing stuff outside the dungeon. In addition most dungeons have quests that you complete while you are going through the dungeon.

Looking for Dungeon (LFD)When you reach level 15 the dungeon finder tool becomes available. This tool helps you find other people (who may or may not be from your server) to do a dungeon with. You have the option to queue for a specific dungeon or for a random dungeon. Random dungeons have the additional benefits of getting extra experience and a bag which contains loot which may or may not be useful for you. You access this tool by pressing “i” and then you select if you want to queue as a healer or dps, priests can’t queue as tanks ;) In general the queue time for healers is shorter than queuing as a dps because fewer people level in healing specs.

RaidsRaids are like dungeons except they require 10 or 25 people to complete. They also require a certain level of gear and knowledge about your class and spec to be able to perform well in. These also can only be done at level 90.

Looking for Raids (LFR)Similar to the LFD tool this helps you find a group to do a raid with. The people will most often not be from you server, though you might occasionally see a familiar face in there. All the raids are 25 man only and you have to attain a certain ilvl in addition to being level 90 in order to take part in them. You can queue with friends if you want as well. Difficulty and ilvl of loot is lower than it is doing a normal or heroic raid.

RacesThere are many races in WoW and while for some the choosing of a race is purely aesthetic, all the races do also get racial which some people find helpful.

PandarenEpicureanThis is possibly the strongest racial currently.Inner PeaceOnce you get to max level this racial won't help you anymore, but while you are leveling you will benefit from double xp gains for twice as long as you would if you were a different race.GourmandBouncyQuaking Palm

What Stats Matter to a Priest?IntellectIntellect is easily the most important stat for a priest. This stat gives you more spell power (so your spells hit harder) and also increases the chance of your spells to critically hit. So in most cases if you find gear that has more Intellect than what you have you should use it.

SpiritSpirit increases your mana regen while in combat for all priests. This is helpful because the amount of mana we have is set by our level so regening it quicker is very helpful. In addition Shadow Priests get the passive skill Spiritual Precision which allows spirit to also give hit.

HasteHaste reduces the cast time of your spells and makes your Hots and Dots tick faster and when you reach certain amounts of Haste it can even add an extra tick onto your HoTs or DoTs.

CritWhen you cast a spell on someone or something after you hit your target with the spell the game does a second calculation to see if you will do extra healing or damage to your target or not. When you do extra healing or damage that is called getting a Critical or Crit. As a stat the more crit rating you have the more likely it is you will crit with your spells.

MasteryOnce you get to level 80 and above you will start to see gear with Mastery on it. This stats increases the effect of your Mastery in your spec.

DisciplineThe discipline tree is focused mostly on providing different kinds of shields to prevent damage and healing. Leveling as Disc can be fun and interesting in that you can shield yourself from taking damage while still being able to kill mobs pretty effectively.

HolyThe holy tree focuses on healing after damage has been taken rather than preventing damage. One of the truly unique aspects of holy is Chakra: Chastise, Chakra: Sanctuary, Chakra: Serenity which allows you to have a lot of flexibility depending on what you are trying to do.

Which spec is it easiest to level with? Well that depends on how you plan on doing your leveling. If you are planning on spending most of your time questing by yourself you will probably find either Disc or Shadow the easiest to kill mobs and will provide a certain amount of survivability. If instead you are planning on queuing for dungeons to be your main means of leveling either Holy or Disc would probably be the better choice for you. As a healing spec your queue times will be significantly shorter than if you were to be queuing as shadow, but you will still be able to kill mobs when questing on your own just more slowly than if you were Shadow.

Dual spec becomes available at level 30 and only costs 10g. So if you want to try more than one spec or have one spec for questing and another for doing dungeons it is definitely a feasible option.

GlyphsWhen you get to level 25 the Glyph menu will unlock for you. There are two types of Glyphs Minor and major. At level 25 you have one Major and minor glyph spot open, at 50 second of both types opens up, and at Level 75 your third and last slot of each type will open up.

Minor Glyphs are mostly fun or cosmetic glyphs like Shadowy Friends or Holy Resurrection. These glyphs won't affect how well your spells work and are instead there more for the sake of customizing and having some.

Major Glyphs on the other hand do affect the effectiveness of your spell and can make a difference in how well you do certain things. Some examples are Dark Binding, Lightwell, and Penance.

HerbalismThis is a gathering profession and the herbs you collect can be used by Scribes, Alchemists, and to a lesser extent some of the other professions. As a bonus herbalists get a skill called Lifeblood. This skill gradually increases in potency until you reach the max skill level herbalism.

MiningAnother gathering profession and the bars and gems you mine can be used by Blacksmiths, Jewelcrafters, and Engineers. As a bonus Miners get a skill called Toughness. This skill does increase in potency as you level mining.

Both Herbalism and Mining also give xp when you either herb or mine which can be a nice help to leveling.

SkinningAlso a gathering skill which allows you to skin most beasts and some dragonkin. The various things you get from skinning can be used by Leatherworkers. The bonus you get with skinning is Master of Anatomy. This skill does increase as you level skinning.

AlchemyAllows you to make various types of potions, elixirs, and flasks. In addition you also gain the passive skill Mixology. Alchemy also has the added bonus that you can learn to make certain items only available to alchemists such as Alchemist Stone.

InscriptionAllows you to make glyphs, scrolls, darkmoon cards, vellum, relics, and off-hand items. In addition Inscriptionists also can put special inscriptions on their shoulders such as Secret Crane Wing Inscription.

JewelcraftingAllows you to make rings, trinkets, necklaces, and cut gems for socketed items. The extra benefit jewelcrafters receive is they can make certain items only they can use Figurine - Twilight Serpent and have access to gems that are more potent than what non jewelcrafters can use.

BlacksmithingBlacksmiths craft various kinds of mail and plate armor, weapons, and can make rods that Enchanters need. The bonus Blacksmiths get is they can add a socket to their bracers and gloves with allows them to put an additional gem on each of these.

EnchantingEnchanters can add Enchantments to nearly every gear slot and also destroy items for enchanting materials. The bonus they get is they can enchant rings with special enchants such as Formula: Enchant Ring - Greater Intellect.

EngineeringEngineers can make a wide variety of items most of which only they can use and also repair bots and a mobile mailbox that anyone can then use. In addition they can make epic headgear such as Gnomish Power Goggles. In addition there are various enchants engineers can put on gloves, belt, and cloak and can be used in addition to an enchant placed on these item by an enchanter.

LeatherworkingLeatherworkers create leather and mail armor and armor kits which can be applied to legs. In addition Leatherworkers have access to special bracer enchants such as Fur Lining - Intellect.

TailoringTailors can make cloth gear, bags, shirts, and special outfits like [item=10036]Tuxedo Jacket [/mmoitem]. In addition tailors have access to special cloak enchants only they can use like Lightweave Embroidery.

Thank YouA big thank you goes out to Veiled and all the Moderators for their feedback while I was putting this together, and also to Ashleycakez and Possibry for helping me to not make Holy and Disc sound like something you would only do if you absolutely had to ;)

The biggest thanks goes to Arlee for making the original version of this guide!

Under Professions you link a really old relic. The Alchemist Stone. Currently in MoP we use the Zen Alchemist Stone. Much better of an item, as unlike with the latter, you do not have to have it equipped to get the benefits from it.